


StarTrek Destiny - Steamrunner

by KHGIBLETT



Series: StarTrek Destiny [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Star - Freeform, Star Trek - Freeform, star trek fan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:36:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24750121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KHGIBLETT/pseuds/KHGIBLETT
Summary: The crew of the USS Destiny go up against their most dangerous foe yet, a highly dangerous cardassian scientist who once kidnapped their captain and did experiments on her as a child. Can the ever stern Captain Natasha Nyris put aside her hatred for Zeroth Salazzar in order to save the federation or will her old hatred win out? Find out in this exciting quadrant spanning adventure with the crew of the aptly named USS Destiny.
Relationships: natasha/yavek
Series: StarTrek Destiny [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789759





	StarTrek Destiny - Steamrunner

** Part One **

** Hidden Beyond **

_"They say it began when the first person thought themselves superior to another. They say began when the first person claimed ownership of that which was not theirs. They say that was the beginning of all hatred, all envy, all slavery and all wars."_

_One possible translation of the Hy'rondi text. Volume 2 Verse 197_

** Chapter One **

** Call from the void **

Planet Bajor - 18 Years Ago

They ran, somewhere behind them in the treeline Natasha could hear the chirp of the hunter thrines chasing them. thrines were savage six-limbed reptilian tracker beasts with blunt bullish faces and had six nasal passages designed allow them to sniff down and hunt escaped slaves. The beasts had double rows of long teeth and thick claws that were used to beat their prey down and then drag them back to their masters barely alive.

Natasha ran as fast as her little legs would carry her but she was mostly pulled along by her mother who gripped her arm so hard Natasha was sure that any moment her mother's might snap her arm and break it.

She wanted to cry out in pain to get her mother to loosen her grip but Natasha could not bring herself to make even the slightest noise. She was so scared of them... grey lizard skin men who always came for their kind. Who hunted them like they were no less than wild animals.

Then she caught a glimpse of something metallic and shifting ahead of her. An instant later something tightened around her ankle and sent her tumbling out of her mother's grasp. There was a sharp zipping sound as a metal wire tightened and pulled her sideways. The next thing she knew her face slammed into the ground so fast that it sent a jab of white-hot pain across one side of her face and she was forced to blink away stars.

'Nyrah! No!' her mother screamed. In that instant, Natasha remembered her real name, her birth name...but almost as soon as it had come, the moment was gone.

She looked up at her mother one last time as the wire around her ankle began to pull her across the forest floor. She screamed out for her mother as this terrible trap, designed specifically to first ensnare the victim and then drag them screaming back to their prey.

'Mother!' Natasha screamed.

She clawing at the ground but it was useless. The wire was being pulled by some kind of motor designed to drag Bajorans easily five times her size. She clawed her nails broke off and soon she was dragged faster and faster through the forest. Her face was soon covered in dirt causing her to almost become blind from the thick mixture of tears and soil in her eyes.

Dragged blind and screaming Natasha was pulled faster and faster and her mother sprinted after her. Although Natasha could no longer see her mother or anything else. But she did notice something. Whatever was pulling her was slowing and soon she came to a halt. She felt weird for a moment and then she realised she instinctively knew someone was watching her and not the good kind of watching. No this was the feeling a rat had when it had caught the attention of a snake and right now she was the rat.

She panicked and rubbed her eyes trying to clear away the dirt from her eyes and then suddenly a pair of hands were on her. They turned her around and she saw a man kneeling over her. His face was masked by the darkness of the forest but she knew he was no friend. She resisted. Struggling against her captor and then he slapped her so hard it sent stars through her vision. The man stood and chuckled.

'The harder they fight the better' he said and placed a thick foot on her chest and pushed down.

'Normally we would have you working in the mines little Bajoran!' the man said.

'But I think you would make a great specimen in my lab.' he said with a try chuckle.

He was an unusually tall and haughty Cardassian man with grey reptilian skin and thick ridges that ran down the sides of his neck to his shoulders. He had an odd egg-shaped crest in the centre of his forehead, but by far the most startling aspect of this man was his eyes. He had deep purple eyes that stood out.

Natasha wanted to scream when she saw him but before she could do so he knelt down and clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her. He tutted under his breath and shook his head ever so slightly.

''it is far too late for that now little one.' He said with a wicked smile.

She stared at him wide-eyed and terrified. Even at this young age, she had heard of this man, he was a man of many names amongst the Bajorans. The Butcher of Bajor, the Flesh Carver or more commonly Zeroth Salazzar.

Nearby chirps and screams can be heard. Zeroth looked up and smiled. He then reached into his jacket for a small rod-like device. It was a beacon to relay their location and he activated it with a flick of his wrist, she watched as the tip glowed red.

'Ah, that will be the thrices now. They have your mother now. If they let her live then I will a complete set. Mother and daughter. Oh, what wonderful experiments I have in mind for you.' Zeroth said with a wicked grin. Zeroth raised a fist and then brought it down into her face.

Now - Onboard the USS Destiny

Natasha awoke with a start. Her heart was racing and for a long moment, she had to fight the fear that she was back there again. Back in that forest with those unnatural purple eyes watching her. She looked around and let out a sigh of relief to see that she was in her quarters.

The captain's quarters were spacious and double levelled. The upper half was her bedroom with a bathroom in the back. One wall of her bedroom was covered in shelves which had various books, artefacts and pictures of her home and human parents on Earth. The best part of her quarters was the large window that stretched over a full half of the upper floor giving her a panoramic view of the rushing stretched out stars outside as they flew at warp.

Yawning she pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes and she massaged the bridge of her nose. She could feel the six ridges on her nose reminding her of her Bajoran heritage and for a moment a long-forgotten memory threatened to resurface but she shook it off and forced herself out of bed. Now out of bed, she began her morning rituals of stretching out her arms and legs, then reach up while standing on her tiptoes followed by her other morning rituals.

She always did this every time she awoke to make her muscles lose and ready for anything the day might throw at her. She looked almost human as all Bajorans did save for the six ridges on the nose which was the signature trait of their kind. She stood five and a half feet tall with loose brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her Caucasian skin had a constant look of being slightly browned by the sun. She was a beautiful woman but few men had ever approached her because they saw the fire in her eyes and the fierce commanding temperament she had made all but the hardiest of men back away.

Once she was done with her stretches she walked down the short flight of steps to the lower half of her quarts, her was a small living area with a study along one wall.

'Computer lights on.' she said and at once the lights in her quarters switched on.

She approached the nearby replicator and said.

'Computer callisthenics gear 1-B.' The replicator whurred and glowed and a moment later she a workout uniform and a bat'leth materialised in the replicator.

She soon got changed and left for Holodeck 3. The corridors of this ship were dark grey and the lights only activated the moment she stepped out into the corridor. Unlike most Federation ships that had lights on all the time across all decks, this ship was made during the height of the Dominion war and as such had basic power reserving functions like shutting off lights to unoccupied decks. When she'd become captain she had chosen to keep these features.

With a jog, she moved at a fast pace down the corridor to the turbo lift and upon entering the lift she retained her jog by hopping on the stop.

'Deck twelve.' she said and the turbo lift whurred as it moved.

A nearby dark blue-skinned crewman gave her a puzzled look but he dared not say anything to his captain who was armed with a Klingon weapon.

As the lift whirred to a halt she turned to the crewman who eyed the bat'leth in her hand and she gave him a curt nod.

'Morning crewman.' she said and jogged off.

She reached Holodeck 3 and tapped the console.

'Computer run callisthenics program Nyris Beta Six...' she said but never got to complete her order because her comm badge chimed.

'Bridge to Captain Nyris. Please report to the bridge!' The voice of her first officer said, he always spoke with abrupt finality. Liking to get the message across clearly with no room for interpretation or error. That was the way she liked it, this was after all a federation ship and they had the honour of Star Fleet to think of, they all did.

'On my way,' she said.

Turning on her heels she strode away from there and back to the turbo lift.

Minutes later she was changed into her uniform and was riding back up to the bridge. The turbo lift opened revealing the bridge of her ship. The bridge was small compared to most ships and had three stations at the rear of the bridge with a small flight of steps leading down to the Captain's chair flanked by the first officer's chair to one side. In the front was the two bridge officers, the navigator and helmsman.

'Captain on the bridge.' One of the bridge crew announced the moment she set one foot outside the turbo lift.

'Report!' she said taking her seat while the Commander went back to his place beside her.

'We have received a distress call Captain. It is coming from a Cardassian ship twenty light-years out at the edge of the Salaris Sub-Sector.' Her first officer said. His name was John Barak and he was a tall broad-shouldered human. He had short-cropped brown hair with dark brown eyes. Everything about this man screamed military perfectionism even right down to his her perfectly maintained goatee that outlined his face

'Cardassian? Odd why would they be all the way out here?' she asked.

'I don't know the captain. This is unclaimed space but ever since the end of the Dominion war we have had little contact with the Cardassian people and even fewer conflicts.' Barak said.

'Anything else?' she asked.

'Captain there is also strange readings coming from the damaged ship, it is a kind of radiation but the scanners are having trouble defining it. I recommend caution it is probably a cowardly trap.' D'vorak said at the tactical station behind the captain's chair.

D'vorak was a female Klingon who served as the ships chief of security. D'vorak stood out amongst the bridge crew for being the only one not dressed in star fleet uniform and instead of being completely dressed in Klingon battle garb.

Natasha thought about this for a moment, as was her way. Never act without thinking was something her adopted father had always told her.

'Lieutenant Yavek lay in a course warp seven point two but drop out of warp half a light-year out and approach cautiously! We don't know how these strange readings might affect the crew or the ship.' She ordered and the young human pilot nodded and laid in a course. She hit her com badge and said.

'Bridge to Astrometrics I want this mystery radiation analyzed as soon as we arrive' she said

'Yes, Captain' Avora replied over comms.

Fringes of Salaris Sub-Sector

The USS Destiny dropped out of warp on the edges of the Salaris Sub-Sector. The USS Destiny was a 375-meter long Steamrunner class starship. The unique shape and design of the starship gave it a uniquely bulky form with a reinforced hull and ablative armour. The ship had a dark grey hull and unlike most federation vessels had the warp nacelles integrated as part of the saucer section. Also unlike most federation vessels the steamrunner class was not rounded in shape but featured a somewhat angular design to most of its mass.

Originally this ship was designed as a heavy escort during the Dominion war some ten years ago. The steamrunner class was designed to be able to take a pounding and still keep fighting. Despite this ship's inception as a warship the Federation has had little major conflicts over the last few years except for incursions from the Borg and the Orion Syndicate. As a result, these ships were re-commissioned deep space exploration vessels.

The captain leaned forward in her chair to examine the screen. Ahead of the ship about half a light-year away was a half wrecked Cardassian Galor class ship. The sand yellow ship had great gashes across its upper hull. The ship was badly damaged from an attack of some sorts. Around the ship lay debris that spun and floated in the void.

'Hail them!' Natasha ordered and a nearby bridge officer hit the command. Natasha rose to her feet and took a few steps from her chair and placed her hands neatly behind her back.

'This Captain Natasha Nyris of the Federation Starship Destiny. We are responding to your distress call.' She announced and there was a few seconds of static before the reply came through on screen, the reply was that of a Cardassian captain who was badly injured, the image crackled and was badly distorted by radiation.

'Thi... is....captain....Agesh Var....' the other captain said but his words were constantly being overridden by static.

'Can you clear it up?' she asked and the ensign got to work. The image crackled and almost faded but at the hit of a command, it stabilised and came back.

'I repeat I am Captain Ages.....Var'ok...we ar... badly injured ...please h.... help us!' the captain cried out, the image was fading again and the last they saw of the Cardassian captain was a console blowing out sending sparks everywhere.

'Transporters get a lock!' she ordered.

'Sorry captain this strange radiation is making it impossible to get a lock. We would need to be within a few hundred meters to establish a stable transporter lock.' Lieutenant Yavek said turning to her and shaking his head with frustration.

Yavek was a human male with had short-cropped blond hair and a clean-shaven face, he was a handsome man and made even more so by the smile he always kept on his face. He was a unique individual and was an unusually gifted pilot. He knew his way around the ships systems. So she knew if he said he could not get a lock he meant it.

'Captain the sensors are giving unusual readings. I am reading ten people on board but none of them are Cardassian... that can't be right' Yavek said double-checking the readings.

'Captain I think it's a cowardly deception! The readings are showing the wreckage of other ships in the vicinity too.' D'vorak announced.

Natasha turned and gave the Klingon a long stair before responding. D'vorak was a six-foot-tall Klingon female who had braided black hair that flowed down behind her to almost the small of her back. She had dark brown skin and was well built. She had a square jawline, black eyes and when she spoke her fangs were visible. She had served the federation for less than a year and had been a cultural exchange transfer from an overly proud Klingon warship. D'vorak had a tendency to think everything was a trap and to mistrust everyone which was why she was such an invaluable chief tactical officer, that and she was able to hold her own in a fight and had saved the captain's life once.

'This is a ship graveyard!' Natasha said and D'vorak nodded with a grunt.

'Currently, there are the remains of more than fifty different vessels floating around the Cardassian ship Captain.' D'vorak said, her words sounding more like an order then news.

'Mysterious radiation and an even more mysterious Cardassian ship.' Natasha said eyeing the Cardassian ship in the front view screen.

'Fine then we will have to get this done the hard way. D'vorak I want you to prepare a shuttle, we'll need void suites fitted with personal shields since we don't know how dangerous this radiation is or even its effects.' Natasha ordered.

'Yes sir!' D'vorak said slamming a fist into her chest and turned to leave.

'Bridge to Lieutenant Commander Ze'raal and Doctor McKennan, please report to hangar bay one immediately.' she ordered and a few seconds later there was affirmative chimes from both of them.

'Go to yellow alert.' she said and turn at once the bridge darkened and yellow lights pulsed across the ship. She then turned to her first officer and gave him the news he was sure he would hate.

'John the Destiny is yours. I am heading over there.' Natasha said striding towards the turbo lift but her first officer was quick to jump to his feet and rush after her.

'Captain I must object! This is far too dangerous and Starfleet regulations dictate that...' John said but she cut him off.

'I am fully aware of star fleet regulations in this matter Commander John Barak. I also have captain's privilege to lead any away team. Besides if there really are Cardassians over there then they'll need to see a Bajoran Starfleet captain coming to their aid, who knows the sight of me may one day inspire one of them to join the Federation.' she said.

'But...' he started to protest again.

'That's an order Commander!' she ordered.

'Yes Captain!' he barked with a reluctant nod.

'John keep running intense scans, if there is something wrong I want to know immediately.' she said.

Ten minutes later they were flying out of hangar bay one which was located at the back of the main section of the ship. The type ten shuttle flew quickly towards the Cardassian ship. Natasha looked around and everyone was busy with pre-assigned duties. Near the back Doctor, McKennan was preparing a hypospray with emergency radiation inoculations, they had all been inoculated already but should the radiation be more than they can handle then the doctor was there. McKennan looked human but that was only true, he was half Kasthet. A species of vibrational sense communicating aliens who could attune of vibrations. The only outward sign of his heritage was his slightly tanned skin which showed hints of metallic flecks in it. McKennan was clean-shaven and medium height with dark hair and dark green almost black eyes.

D'vorak was silently piloting the ship, no doubt funding about being dragged into a rescue mission. Natasha rose from her seat and strode towards the back of the shuttle.

'Commander Ze'raal with me' she ordered as she passed her Tellarite her chief engineer.

He got to his feet grumbled as he followed her into the back compartment of the shuttle. Ze'raal was a five and a half feet tall and very bulky Tellarite male with deep golden brown skin and wide flared nostrils. Tellarites were a temperamental species who loved to engage in arguments as a sport, because of this Ze'raal always had their air of holding back intense anger or fury but in fact, this was merely his content look.

'What do you need a captain?' he asked his voice sounding like a bass rumble.

'Switch to secure frequency 238' she switching her void suits internal comms on and placing on her helmet, he mirrored her knowing that no one else could hear them now.

'Lieutenant what I am about to ask you to do something completely off record. Do you understand?' she asked and he simply nodded, they had known each other for so long that she knew even if she asked him to defy Starfleet protocol he would do it without hesitation.

'Good when we are over there make an excuse to break away from the away team and I need you to gain access to the Cardassian computer system, download everything you can starting with historic data going back a hundred years and when your done cover your digital footprints. I do not want anyone to know we accessed their systems.' she said and he nodded.

'I am to assume that this is in regards to the Salazzar protocol?' Ze'raal asked and Natasha nodded.

'My gut tells me our paths will cross again and soon.' she said darkly.

Ten minutes later they were docked at the Cardassian ship, they were protected from the radiation by personal shields which made the air around them glow a faint blue. Ze'raal had already slipped away in an attempt to "get the ships systems back online" while the captain led the rest of her crew deeper into the ship.

Ze'raal was alone at a console that he had manually accessed via a tri-cord connection.and he had a pad plugged into the console and was downloading reams of data at a time. His hands flickered across the commands symbols but more than once the thick gloves had caused him to hit the wrong command forcing him to start over again and each time he cursed and grumbled to himself.

The worst thing with being in the void was the lack of exterior sounds. All he could hear was his own breathing and the more he listened to it the more it caused him to breath deeper and louder until eventually he could take it no more and he slammed a fist into the wall beside the consol. It was in that moment when his flashlight shifted that he caught a glimpse of something dark moving down a nearby corridor.

He pointed his flashlight but whatever it was had gone. He hit a bunch of commands into the pad and it relayed everything back to the ship, the ships larger computer systems would crack the Cardassian defences for him while he investigated.

He pulled out his phaser and slowly walked down the corridor shining his flashlight from side to side. He got to the end and turned a corner and saw something dart away down the corridor and duck behind a corner.

'Wait!' he exclaimed and immediately realised his actions were futile since only he could hear his voice. He sprinted after the shadowy figure and hit his com badge.

'Captain! We are not alone!' he exclaimed and rounded the corner. He saw the mysterious intruder bounding away, they had deactivated their grav-boots and they were now flying across the corridor.

'Fine play it that way!' he exclaimed and sprinted forwards a few steps and then leapt forwards and in the same action he deactivated his grav-boots and he crossed the corridor at top speed. The corridor rushed past him and then he slammed into the mysterious interloper. He grabbed them from behind and a moment later they both slammed into a wall but the wall's metal was weak it crumbled upon impact.

'Now let me see you' he said picking up the person and turning them around. Ze'raal let out a gasp when he was what the interloper was. He hit his com badge and then hit the control on his wrist to activate his grav-boots, but the metal was weak and cracked under his weight.

'Captain! I managed to detain the interloper but...Aaargh!' Ze'raal cried out.

Astrometrics, USS Destiny

Commander Barak was approaching astrometric reviewing the data Ensign Avora had compiled. Ensign Avora was a female Andorian with a rare genetic trait giving her extremely pale skin and mild telepathic abilities. She was not blind like others of her kind with the Aenar trait. Avora had been working hard for the last half hour trying to get clearer scans of the Cardassian ship.

'Report!' Barak announced as soon as he entered the bridge.

'Commander!' she said startled.

'Sorry I have been trying to clear up the scans but I don't think Lieutenant Yavek's scans were incorrect. I think he was right. There is no Cardassians aboard that ship!' she said urgently.

'It's a trap!' he cursed.

'Yes and it gets worse, the wreckage surrounding the Cardassian ship, it was previously from larger chunks of the ship which had been bombarded with Disruptor fire until it was whittled down into tiny fragments. I have been analyzing it and it appears to be alloys of various ships, each one federation in origin.' She said.

'This is Commander Barak the Bridge, go to red alert! Raise shields and ready phasers.' he announced tapping his com badge. At once the lights dimmed and all across the ship red pulsing lights came to life.

'Commander...' she started but hesitated when she saw the look of determination on his face.

'yes!' he said.

'I think I have also found the source of the radiation. It is the Cardassian ship, it is acting as a generator and the radiation is Tharlaric Radiation.' She said and he did a double-take.

'Tharlaric Radiation? But that is only hypothetical, no one has been able to produce it.' He said.

'Well, apparently not sir. And that was why our systems had trouble defining the radiation type and its properties.' She said boldly but shrunk back when she saw his annoyed look.

'Can you get a signal too...' he said but trailed off as an alert came to life. Moments later twin disruptor beams slammed into the ship's shields causing the entire ship to shudder violently for a moment.

'Avora get in contact with the captain, I'll be on the bridge!' he said and rushed out of Astrometrics.

A frantic minute later Barak rushed onto the bridge and he could see from the view screen weapons fire that seemed to come out of nowhere.

'report!' he announced.

'We're under attack! Shields down to ninety-four per cent. Ablative armour holding' Yavek announced.

'From who? the Cardassians?' Barak asked taking the captains chair.

'No captain, there are two vessels. Each cloaked. Possibly Romulan, Rogue Klingons perhaps.' Officer B'kora said in a flat voice, the female Vulcan manning the tactical station spoke with a strange calm in this storm.

'fire back, full phaser spread. Yavek evasive pattern Beta Six! Prepare two photon torpedoes to fire on my mark.' he ordered and the ship shook.

The ship turned and dove away from the shots and then its phasers let out a long wide sweep. The yellow Phaser beam swept around and once, twice and on the third time, it slammed into the rear of one of the cloaked ships.

'Fire Torpedoes!' Barak ordered and the tactical officer hit the command and two torpedoes flew out from the rear of the ship, they sparkled in the void like small newborn stars and then one struck home. There was an explosion as one missile caught the wing of Romulan T'varo class ship, the explosion tore through the wing and a moment later a secondary explosion erupted out from the main body of the ship as the second photon torpedo hit home.

'good shooting!' Barak said but the Vulcan tactical officer gave him a calm response.

'it was as you would say luck.' she said.

'The other ship has stopped firing on us. It would be logical to assume that they have given up the attack.' the tactical officer said.

'Ensign Yavak take the ship to heading 224 mark 24 at maximum warp.' the commander said

'Sir! The Captain?' Yavak asked.

'Just do it. I have a plan.' he said and the ships warp nacelles glowed and then a moment later it seemed to stretch way and it jumped forwards and vanished with a flash.

'Bring the ship out of warp! And bring her about.' Barak ordered thirty seconds into their flight and the stretched out stars began to shrink back into tiny specks again.

'Commander your orders.' Yavek asked after having completed his task, Barak allowed a brief smile to play across his lips, Yavak had what it took to get ahead in Starfleet, a rare combination of natural talent, drive and willingness to complete the task at hand, no matter how insurmountable it may seem.

'Bring up scans of the Cardassian ship and the surrounding area to a quarter of a lightyear' he ordered and front viewscreen changed to reveal the area around the Cardassian ship, placing the ship directly in the centre. Barak got to his feet and strode towards one of the forwards consoles. crewman Merand stood up and he took her seat and hit series of commands and the image expanded and revealed a small cluster of meteorites in the right quadrant of the screen.

'Yavak I am going to need you to do something a bit crazy and it might just risk all our lives. But I believe the captain is worth the risk.' 


End file.
